This invention relates to electrical contacts and, more particularly, to such a contact which is adapted for insertion and retention in a printed circuit board hole without the requirement of a soldering process. In addition, the present invention is related to such a contact arranged so that an array of stacked printed circuit boards may be electrically interconnected.
When an electrical connector assembly is mounted to a printed circuit board, it is necessary to provide electrical interconnections between the electrical contacts within the connector assembly and wiring traces on and within the printed circuit board. It is conventional to provide an array of plated through holes in the printed circuit board which accept respective contacts therein. The plating in each hole is suitably electrically connected to an appropriate wiring trace. It is further conventional that a soldering process be utilized to electrically and mechanically join the contacts to the walls of the respective holes. It would be desirable to be able to eliminate the soldering process.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an electrical contact which may be electrically and mechanically connected to the wall of a circuit board plated through hole without the necessity for soldering the contact in the hole.
There are numerous applications where it is desired to stack printed circuit boards and provide electrical interconnections therebetween. It is therefore a further object of this invention to provide an electrical contact of the type described which is arranged so that it may be electrically interconnected with a similar contact at either of its ends in a stacked array of printed circuit boards.